Today, we have 3 more award categories to introduce. The first of these? Best Teardown of 2008. What property would you nominate for this singular honor — and why?

Sure, a teardown has its raw, physical aspects, but there are emotional, historical, cultural, artistic, sonic, and ecological angles to mull over too. Your well-considered and well-argued nominations for this coveted award belong in the comments section below or in a private message sent to Swamplot HQ. For a more complete description of the nominating process, see these instructions.

4 Comment

1 Waverly Court. Dramatic mid-90s Glassman Shoemake Maldonado addition and remodel to an existing modern house. A Bissonnet landmark with its “wildly expressionist zinc-faced stair tower;” pictured in the late-90s edition of Houston Architecture Guide. Now a vacant lot; has been for about a year.

The Cohen House on Moonlight Drive. Spectacular and visionary, it fell victim to an unscrupulous tenant and no doubt became an embarrassment to its mega-millionaire owner. Sat vacant and vandalized for months, finally sold to a builder. Structure and slab were so solid they resisted normal teardown efforts. Now the builder is trying to sell the empty lot.

My nomination for the best teardown would be Town and Country Mall. The developer tore down that mall to create CityCentre, the new mix-use developement will breathe life into a stagnant piece of land near Beltway 8 and the Katy Freeway with new restaurants and cafes, class A business buildings, a gym, apartments and townhomes.